With Understanding Comes Appreciation
When you see the cover, you say: hey! This look like "Aqualung!" But will the inside be on par with the outside? Three years also separates "Minstrel..." from "Thick as a Brick."
Could the Tull come anywhere near these masterpieces?
The title of the album and the cover refer more to a traditional folkish collection of songs than anything else. The Tull completely mistified everybody: the critics (which they truely hate at this moment of their career) as well as their fans.
COMPLETELY WRONG OF COURSE!
Minstrel in the Gallery was Tull's most artistically successful and elaborately produced album since Thick as a Brick and harked back to that album with the inclusion of a 17-minute extended piece ("Baker Street Muse.") Although English folk elements abound, this is really a hard rock showcase on a par with —and perhaps even more aggressive— than anything on Aqualung. Minstrel in the Gallery, from 1975, is Jethro Tull's eighth album, and the product of a band at the height of its powers. All of the classic Tull elements are here: Ian Anderson's witty and occasionally risqué (if not downright salacious) lyrics, unique vocals, flute and sparkling acoustic guitar; Martin Barre's cutting, razor-edged electric guitar; the accomplished rhythm section of Barlow and Hammond on drums and bass, and the superb John Evans on piano and organ. Add to these essential components the lush orchestrations of David Palmer, imparting a finishing sheen of sophistication to the whole affair, and you've got the makings of another winner for Ian and the boys.
Comments